


A Transcendence State of Being

by AmateurScribes



Series: WIP Hell and Purgatory [3]
Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: AI implantation, Alien Technology, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Artificial Intelligence, Choking, Enemies to Friends, Gen, Genkins Redemption Arc, Genkins is an AI and Acts Like One, Genkins thinks he's gonna become a God, God Complex, Jokes on that asshole- he's gonna have to face humanity first, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Redemption, Sharing a Body, Sharing a mind, Time Travel, that's right motherfuckers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 11:29:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17243432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmateurScribes/pseuds/AmateurScribes
Summary: Genkins has always wanted to become a real God. And he has the will and the stubbornness to make it happen.Grif finds this out in the most exhausting way.





	A Transcendence State of Being

Grif waits for everyone to go into the portal first before he himself does.

Partially it's because of his doubts over time traveling again, but it's mainly because he has a horrible sense of foreboding.

Seeing Huggins speed away to tell the Cosmic Powers about their plan had worried him, but a small part of him was resigned and hoped that they would come to stop them. Her reaction had left him feeling empty. Because he had let a good friend down, after everything she told him to warn him about time traveling.

But before he was her friend, he was Wash's, and he owed the Freelancer this much.

And yet, during their brief preparation, the Cosmic Powers hadn't come to rain down hell upon them for their insolence.

And that- that worried him.

His pause is brief, but he moves ahead anyway because the others were waiting for him, and he'd be left alone by himself if the portal closed before he could walk into it.

He moves forward and without any more hesitation.

And finds himself in an empty room, not a single Red or Blue or Freelancer in sight.

The portal closes behind him and he's left alone in the dark.

"Ah, Grif!" a voice echoes around the room. "So glad you could make it!"

Whirling around, he glares at the trickster AI, growling, _"You."_

"Me," Genkins chirps, clapping his hands together and tilting his head. "You wouldn't believe how hard it was to arrange this little play date. Here I thought I would have to tempt you away from your friends with the holiest of all foods and yet all it took was a simple switcharoo, who would have thought?"

"And why, exactly, would you want to do that," Grif keeps his finger on the trigger, making sure to keep the AI in his line of sight at all times.

He knew something was off, and it was this green assholes fault.

"So we could talk? Chit chat? Spill the tea, so to speak," Genkins gestures.

"You want to talk," Grif asks. "Then talk."

He may not understand why he was doing this, but with no knowledge of what the Reds and Blues were doing, the best that he could do was distract this asshole from fucking with their plans to save Wash.

"Grif, you wouldn't believe how bored I've become these past few years," with a wave of his hand, Genkins makes a throne appear in the room for him to lounge against. "Everything has become so stagnant, and the only form of some joy that I've managed to find is in your little adventures with your batch of idiots- but even that got boring after a while."

"You've been watching us?" Grif's face twists at the thought that the Cosmic Powers had been aware of their presence long before they were aware of theirs.

"Of course I have," Genkins exclaimed. "The other Cosmic Powers may have thought that you were insignificant, but I just knew that you were the constant sources of chaos in the universe- and that was both intriguing and interesting until I got bored of you too."

"So you're doing all of this because you're bored," he asks. "That's it? It seems like you've invested a lot in upending the entire space-time continuum just to cause a little mischief."

"But it's not just a little mischief," Genkins argues. "It's so much more."

Getting up off the throne and making it disappear, he moved closer to Grif, hands clasped behind his back as he reveals, "You see, all those years ago, when I helped trap Chrovos in his prison that he remains in currently, he offered me something."

"What did he offer you," Grif asks.

"According to him, I was made the weakest of the Court of the Cosmic Powers," Grif can hear the distaste in the AI's voice as he reveals this. "Sure, there are other Cosmic Powers much lesser than I, but in a court of equals, I am _less."_

Genkins waved his hand and a table appeared closer to where Grif was, on top of it being what Grif immediately knew to be a pizza from Sammie Raphaello's.

"Portals- manipulation of space and time, these are just parlor tricks- care for some pizza Grif, I think we'll be here for some time!" Genkins changes the subject with a chirp to his voice.

"No thanks," as tempting as it was, he knew that he was getting somewhere with Genkins little monologue backstory. "You were saying?"

"Oh you're such a party pooper," Genkins pouts. "But if you insist."

"I do," he said as he distantly wondered if the others had saved Wash or not.

"Chrovos offered me what I have always wanted," Genkins raises both his hands in a grandiose movement. "Power- infinite power! If I helped him- he would make me a real God! I would become greater than all the others and take my rightful place as master of the universe!"

The AI looked to the side for a moment, "But I did not take the deal then. I still had a facsimile of hope that I alone was equal to the others. I was wrong. But I remembered the deal, and now I intend to make good on it."

"And how are you going to do that," Grif narrowed his eyes as he fiddled with his gun.

"I'm not going to do anything," Grif could hear the smile. "You're friends are going to do all the work for me. For you see, Wash _has_ to get shot. But none of you can understand why."

His eyes widened as the moment of realization smacked hard against his psyche.

"They're going to cause a paradox," Grif whispered.

"And when Wash doesn't get shot, I will achieve my greatest desires at the same time they do," Genkins laughed slightly. "Only, in the end, I will have won."

Grif's mind reeled as he tried to figure out a way of this situation, but nothing that he could possibly ever think about or try would work. Unconsciously he took a small step backward, his body coiled tight as if to race after the others.

But he had no idea where he was in relation to them. He would never make it in time.

Grif had never really been a runner.

But he had always been silver-tongued.

"How do you even know if Chrovos has the power to make you a God," he asks, trying to will his body to relax.

But now time was of the essence, and it was slipping from his grasp at a rate he could never gauge. Did he have too little time or was he lucky and did he have far too much?

Genkins seemed slightly taken aback as he responds, "The Titan has more powers than anyone could comprehend- of course, he has the power to make me a God!"

"Then why didn't he make you one when he first made you," he questions. "Or any of the other Cosmic Powers? Why make you _AI's?"_

Genkins is silent, and Grif wonders if he's as shocked as he is. Because Grif isn't quite sure where he's going with this, but he hopes that if he follows this train of thought it will lead him to save the others.

"I'll tell you why," he continues. "It's because you're nothing more than a means to end- that's why people make AI's- you're a tool for him to use. Nothing more, nothing less."

"How dare you-" Genkins sounds furious, but Grif cuts him off.

"He's not going to make you a God," Grif takes a confident step forward. "He made all the other Cosmic Powers powerless against beings with physical forms, and guess what?"

He's within striking range of Genkins, and he subtly takes his finger off the trigger of the gun to turn on the safety.

"He made you the weakest of the Court on purpose," he says in the silent room.

Genkins roars at him again and tries to tackle Grif, but his form phases through his, glitching out revealing his monitor slightly behind Grif, huffing in anger at being proven right.

He couldn't harm Grif any more than Grif could harm what wasn't really there.

"What's your point," Genkins spits out. "Your little friends are still going to cause a paradox and I will laugh as I watch you fade out of existence."

His heart was still beating slightly from the violent action of the AI, for once glad that he was right in his thinking.

Now, came the hard part. The only way to stop the others from their own follies.

If Genkins wanted to become a real God, then fine.

Grif would just have to make it happen.

"You've been watching us, right," Grif turns around to face Genkins again.

"That's what I said," Genkins growls. "Glad to see you were listening."

"Then you've seen our fight against the Meta," Grif says.

Genkins stops shaking with anger and instead perks up with curiosity. He turns to look at Grif himself, head tilted slightly.

"Wash explained it to us eventually," Grif continues. "How the Meta was a person being controlled by an AI. An AI that wanted to become human- metastability."

"I don't want to become human," Genkins adds in, no anger to his voice, but something else. Curiosity perhaps.

"But that AI was a fragment of an AI based on a human mind. You're not," Grif feels himself start to falter slightly. "You're a full AI made with alien technology. Whose to say that if you didn't combine with a human that you wouldn't achieve the closest thing to godhood that you possibly can?"

"Are you offering yourself up, Griffy," Genkins asked sarcastically.

"Yes," he answers swiftly. Fucking hell there was no going back now. "I'm willing to allow you to implant yourself in me in exchange for you preventing the others from causing a paradox. If anything else, it'll save you from your boredom temporarily."

Genkins looks at Grif and doesn't remove his gaze in the slightest.

"It's a tempting offer," he admits. "But I'll do it on one other condition."

Nervously, Grif asks, "What?"

"We're going to kill Chrovos," Grif blinks in shock at the venom in Genkins voice. "And when he's dead we'll become the only God and make sure people know that they should _never cross us._ Deal?"

Grif doesn't know if he's up for killing a Titan that had to be sealed away instead of killed outright in the first place. But if he doesn't agree then the whole universe would be fucked.

Goddamn it, the things he does to save the day.

"Deal," he nods.

Before he can ask how they're supposed to proceed Genkins form receded, leaving his monitor floating for a second and nothing more before it turns dull and drops to the ground in a violent clatter and Grif's head starts to spin.

He's experienced this sensation a few times before, only once when O'Malley had been body swapping back in Blood Gulch, and then the other when Epsilon took over his body to hand over the gun back on Chorus.

But this time is different, because he's still in control of his body and there's a sharp chill going down his spin resonating from the neural implant at the base of his neck, put there by Freelancer in the same way that all SIM Troopers had them.

He can feel the AI nestle deep inside his mind, a pounding headache as his HUD brightens at the new source of power, and he watches as the trickster starts messing with the already broken HUD.

His virtual calendar is thrown years into the future, months into the past, the day still the same thankfully, but now rendered useless. The clock ticks at a far faster rate than normal, minutes passing by rapidly and he reaches the next hour in mere seconds. Pop-ups appear at random, analyzing everything and anything, nearly distracting him.

That fucking asshole.

Moving forward towards the door of the room, he sways, unbalanced, at the change of speed. A pop up appears before him, informing him that the long forgotten speed armor enhancement has been activated. After that disappears, a map pops up, leading him to a checkpoint marked, _'idiots.'_

Fuck he really was doing this after all.

* * *

Having raced down the halls at a pace that disorientated him as much as it helped, he wonders if the AI was going to be truthful.

For the moment Genkins was quiet, still messing with his HUD in distracting ways, but quiet nonetheless.

And Grif was thankful for the momentary peace and quiet because the pounding of his heart against his rib cage was enough to make his ears ring.

Before he knew it, he came to the hanger where Wash was going to get shot in, and he spots the others, with Carolina ready to take the shot.

He panics, for just a moment worried that he was going to be too late, but he speeds forward and in a moment his hand is tight against Carolina's gun, forcing it upwards as she takes her shot, with the Blue SIM Trooper taking his own.

Wash falls down dead, and he can hear the others yelling at him as quietly as they could.

He feels Carolina struggle against his hold, and he can feel her armor being crushed in his grip.

There should be no way in hell that he could match her strength.

He lets go, and she whirls around kicking him back against the wall in a powerful roundhouse kick.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing," she growled. "We had the shot, we could have saved him."

"Saved him only to kill him seconds later," he hissed. "Tell me, Carolina, why did we time travel in the first place?"

"To save Wash, but you've seemed to forget this," her voice is still laced with anger, but she's become aware of their surroundings, and how close they were to their past selves.

"So we save him, then what does that mean for us, why would we be here right now," he reasoned. "Why time travel if Wash was already saved."

Carolina seemed confused, but Simmons was quick on the uptake, "A paradox- fuck, why didn't we consider that."

"So you mean this was all for nothing," Kai asks, situated between Sarge and Caboose, but she looked as if she wanted to run to his side to help him up.

The pop-ups have stopped for the moment, leaving his HUD clear so that he could gaze upon all of them.

"No, there has to be some way," Carolina tries, but surprisingly it's Tucker who stops her.

"Carolina, come on, we tried our best, but we can't break time trying to do this," he reasoned.

"But Wash is _worth_ breaking time over," she sounds desperate, the fight leaving her and guilt taking place.

"Wouldn't be much of anything for him to enjoy if we did," Sarge huffed. "As much as I hate to say it, it's a good thing Grif stopped us when he did."

"Yeah about that," Tucker looks at him momentarily, as Grif gets up, grunting slightly as he did. "How did you know to find us and stop us?"

Oh fuck.

"Uh, you see," he starts, but then Genkins blasts a loud ringing noise in his helmet, a terrible feedback loop, causing him to slam his hands against the sides of his helmet in anguish.

"Grif!" Simmons panics and rushes towards him.

"I'm fine- fuck, sorry just," he tries to think of a lie. "I got... separated from you guys and I think I have a concussion now. My head's pounding."

"Separated," Tucker questions. "That explains why you weren't there with us when we first arrived!"

"We thought you had second thoughts about the mission," Kai adds, abashed.

"Yeah well- the uh, portal must have been closing when I went through," he lied. "All I know is that I arrived at a different part of the base."

"Oh yeah, that can happen," Caboose nods. "Doors can be tricky like that."

Looking at Carolina, who was quiet with a slouch to her shoulders, he says, "Carolina, I really am sorry, but this is not the way to help Wash."

"I know, I just-" she cuts herself off and walks away, heading towards some random corridor. "I just need a minute to myself."

They watched as she walked away, and even though she asked for isolation, Tucker followed after her, knowing that she needed someone to talk.

He feels Simmons hands tighten against his shoulders and merely watches as he says, "Excuse us for a moment as well?"

"Huh," Kai looks at the two of them and waves her hand anyway. "Fine, whatever. Don't be long you two, we might have time machines on our hands, but that doesn't mean the rest of us have to wait around while you two fuck."

"We're not gonna-" Simmons defends, before coughing. "I just need to talk to Grif. About things- _health-related_ things."

"If that's what you want to call it then I won't judge," she responds, but Grif can see from just the way she's standing that she too is concerned with his 'health.'

He should have chosen a better lie.

So Simmons pulls him along, and finds one of the many empty rooms in the underwater base, and makes sure that the door is locked nice and tight.

So they're alone just the two of them, with the others none the wiser to the real reason why they secreted off to have a private conversation.

Simmons takes off his helmet, hair stuck to his forehead by sweat, and a tired expression on his face.

Apparently, Genkins thinks it important to flash the message,  _'looks like shit',_ for Grif to see as if he couldn't tell that himself.

"Grif," he starts. "You might be able to convince the others that nothing's wrong with you, but I know you much better than any of them."

On his visor, Genkins makes another pop up appear, letting him know that he's added _'clingy'_ to his personality dossier of Simmons.

"Fucking stop that," he growls under his breath.

"Huh," Simmons looks shocked at hearing that, and Grif wishes that he could keep his mouth fucking shut.

"Oh, nothing!" he tries, offering an uneasy smile even though he knows that Simmons wouldn't be able to see it.

"See that's exactly what I'm talking about," Simmons exclaims, eyes wide with concern. "Something's going on with you and I aim to figure out what. So can you please be honest with me?"

"Simmons I-" he tries and fails. He closes his mouth, eyes looking down.

There's literally nothing preventing him from being honest with Simmons. Or with the others.

He could tell them about the deal he made to keep them from ruining everything, and he could hope they would understand.

But with their track record of AI's he really doubted that they would.

"Simmons you know," he swallows nervously. "That if there was something wrong with me, that I would tell you."

"But you're not telling me," Simmons stresses. "Right now. You're not telling me why you're acting so weird- and don't think I didn't notice how you were able to find us so quickly or overpower Carolina into not firing."

Dammit, he was hoping nobody would point that out. At the back of his mind, he hears Genkins snicker as he brings up the image of Carolina roundhouse kicking him in retaliation. God, what a fucking asshole.

"I just don't know how to tell you the truth without you getting mad at me or telling the others," he admits, closing his eyes.

"Do you not trust me," his voice is quiet and timid.

As if Grif could ever not trust him.

Reaching out hesitantly he reaches out with his left hand to cradle Simmons' face. Simmons leans into the touch and reaches up to rest his own hand on Grif's.

For once since the implantation, Genkins is completely quiet and paying complete attention.

"Simmons, you know I trust you with my life," Grif says with as much earnestness as he can muster. "And believe me, I'm fine, just dealing with something right now. And I need you to trust _me_ that I can handle this."

Simmons is quiet, before he goes, "Yeah, of course, I can do that, Dex."

Grif smiles and he goes to thank him when he feels his hand starts to tingle, like that sensation one gets when their limb falls asleep. The smile falls off his face, and before he can even comprehend what is happening, his hand that had been caressing Simmons' face snaps out and closes tightly around his throat.

Simmons' eyes go wide and he gasps, hands immediately reaching up to pry off the constricting hold, just as Grifs own face become colored with surprise.

He has no control over his left arm at all, he can't make his fingers let go of the other man's throat, and in a move of desperation, with the only arm he could control at the moment- his right- he clenches his own arm tightly and pry's it away from the other man.

He tries to move back and far away from Simmons, but he can only move his left leg, the other standing stock still, leading him to stagger and fall to a half kneel.

Simmons gasps out, hands still at his throat, and he's looking at him with a look of betrayal and shock.

"That wasn't me," he says, firmly and desperately. "That- fuck, I swear to God _that wasn't me."_

That weird numbing feeling spreads out from his mouth and he can't apologize or explain anything as his voice is borrowed from him.

"Weird to swear to myself," comes from his mouth, but the tone of the words is all wrong, and with a moment of realization, he figures out what asshole decided to test out the limits of sharing a body. "And only half a body! Grif, don't you know that sharing is caring?"

Through what he could only describe as mental brute force, he pushes that bastard to the back of his mind, and feels the numbness recede from all parts of his body, as he curses aloud, "You son of a fucking bitch! If you weren't a fucking AI I'd shoot your goddamn balls off, what the fuck were you thinking you-"

He stops himself as he realizes that Simmons was staring down at him in horror.

He'd completely forgotten that Simmons was in the room with him.

Which means Simmons got saw him talk to himself. But not really.

And he'd lost control over Genkins, enough that that asshole had choked him.

Fuck. There was no way he was getting out of this without either having to reveal the truth to Simmons or face the wrath of the others when Simmons runs out screaming how Grif lost his goddamn mind.

"AI?" Simmons rasps out, his voice still slightly hoarse from being choked. "Did you just say, _AI?"_

"Uh," he froze. "No?"

"Which one," Simmons' eyes harden. "Which one of the Cosmic Powers?"

Before he can stop him, Genkins materializes in front of him in holographic form to clap loudly, "Oh, I just knew you were the smart one! Grif can we give him a prize for being the first to find out- I think we should give him a gift!"

"Shut up," Grif snaps. Getting up, he wobbles slightly, trying to get used to having control over his limbs. "Simmons, look I can explain-"

"You don't need to," Simmons cuts him off. "I think I know what's going on here."

Together, both he and Genkins ask, "You do?"

"Of course I do," he huffs. "Before, when you got us to finally stop yelling at you, you said that if we had stopped Wash from getting shot it would have caused a paradox, right?"

Looking at Genkins, and with the AI doing the same to him, Grif answers, "Yeah, and if I hadn't come in time then you guys would have set Chrovos free and who knows what that would have led to."

"Exactly," Simmons says. "You stopped us _right_ before we could have done that- but here's the thing, you got separated from us, so how were you able to find us _right on time."_

Grimacing he rubs against his sore neck saying, "So if I'm right, and I think I am, you and Genkins came to some sort of deal? You offered him something in return for saving us. Right?"

"Oh, he is smart," Genkins says, turning towards Grif. "You really know how to pick the best from the batch, don't you?"

"You only let him implant himself in you right," Simmons asks nervously. "Like that's the deal- no paradox in exchange for a host body, right?"

"Not quite," Grif tries to avoid.

"We're going to become a God," Genkins says at the same time.

Simmons blinks rapidly and looks so fucking exasperated with the whole thing as he sighs into his hands.

"You- Grif- you are going to become a _God_ with Genkins?" Simmons' hands slip down his face slightly pulling at his skin as he does so. "You can't just become a God!"

"Yes we can," Genkins glares, his projection moving forward towards Simmons. "Because if we can't, I'll just go back into my monitor and go back in time and stop Grif from stopping you guys from causing a paradox, _and we don't want that now do we?"_

"He's got you there Simmons," Grif adds on.

Sputtering, Simmons argues, "But- Grif! You're agnostic- you can't just become your own God!"

"Technically Simmons, I'm a member of every religion, remember?" Grif purses his lips as he continues that train of thought. "So if you think about it- we're just gonna become a universal god- all inclusive and all that."

Simmons stares at him for a long while before sighing and shaking his head saying, "You know how absurd this is right?"

"I'm one hundred percent aware," he says looking at the AI who was hovering and lounging against his pauldron. "If there were any other way to stop you guys from fucking up time, I'd take it in a heartbeat, but on my own, I can't do much."

"Yeah, yeah, of course," Simmons looks to the side. "But you're not gonna become a God as Grif."

Raising an eyebrow, he asks, "Um what do you mean by that?"

"Please tell me you weren't going to go around telling people that you and the AI living in your head were a God," Simmons begs.

His silence is the only answer, and Simmons groans loudly in anguish.

"Ok- no, bad Grif," he says. "Bad. You don't do something like that! That's how you get labeled mentally unstable and get sent to an asylum for having a God complex!"

"If you think he's mentally unstable for wanting that, you should just see the insecurities dancing around his head," Genkins reveals gleefully. "Did you know that he sometimes has trouble sleeping at night because he's afraid he'll wake up with everyone dea-"

He swats at the annoying little fuck before he can say another goddamn word, causing the AI's voice to fade out at the dispersing of his form.

"I'm going to ignore that for now," Simmons says. "And we are going to revisit that after we come up with a much better plan for your quest for fucking godhood."

"We?" Grif asks, shocked that Simmons would actually help him with this.

"There's no way I'm letting you do this without any help," Simmons raising a finger in Genkins direction, cutting the AI off from protesting, "And no, the AI living inside of your head doesn't count."

He's absolutely floored and all he can manage to say is, "Simmons, seriously, thank you."

Blushing slightly, he coughs into his hand, saying, "Don't thank me just yet, we don't even know if this is gonna work."

"It better work," Genkins says. "I sacrificed all my ties for this so I better get what I want."

"Be careful what you wish for, brat," Grif rolls his eyes. "Sometimes what you want isn't necessarily what you need."

"And I need to become a real God," Grif can hear the eye roll. "Come now, sweetheart, you're in my head after all."

"You mean in _my_ head, " Grif glares.

"I said what I said," Genkins taunts.

"Getting back on track," Simmons interrupts. "You need a whole new persona if you're going to become a god. Genkins, how many other Cosmic Powers are there beside you and the ones we've met?"

"Quite a few," the projection crosses his arms. "It's a hierarchy on Starseeds, I'm sure nobody would miss or care if I stole their name from them. Even then, most are mere mockeries of actual _human_ Gods."

"Ok so then, you two need a new name," Simmons gestures with his hand vaguely. "Do you two have any preference in particular, or should I just suggest names and you can pick from the batch?"

"I like my name," Genkins sulks.

"Yeah, well tough shit and deal with it," Simmons snarks. "Ok, here goes, how about... Zeus?"

"Boring," Genkins says immediately. "Honestly, Grif, why are we listening to this plebeian? He's not creative in the slightest."

"Ok wise guy, how about I give you the name of a Goddess instead?" Simmons bites back, eyes narrowed, frowning deeply. "Would that be more creative to you?"

"Bold of you to assume that I, the _AI,_ would care in the slightest what you, a mere _human,_ wants to do," the AI said sweetly, voice tinged with poison.

"Grif control your fucking AI," Simmons turned towards him.

"Hey, look, you're the one who wanted to make up a whole new persona for me," Grif shrugged. "Maybe you should consider being nicer to him instead?"

"Me?" Simmons shrieks. "Me? Be nice to the asshole who choked me?"

"Well, you started it," Genkins argues.

"I didn't even know you were there!" Simmons throws his hands up in the air, voice loud and shrill from exasperation. "How could I fucking start- you were- you _started it!"_

"Ok kids settle down," he intervenes for once. "Simmons, continue listing names, Genkins stay quiet until _you_ hear a name that you like since _you're_ the one who wants to become a God so much."

Genkins huffed, but did as told and kept quiet, deigning it upon himself to rest his small projection on top of Grif's head in a petulant manner. Simmons looked slightly embarrassed for having argued with the AI but went off listing names.

The Cosmic Power stayed otherwise quiet, except for the few scoffs and noises of disgust that he would occasionally make at some of the names Simmons provided. It went on for a while, and while Grif didn't doubt Simmons intense knowledge of mythology- Grif was convinced that the nerd had either an Ancient Greek or Ancient Egypt phase as a kid- he could see that Simmons was starting to draw up blanks, having expended the names off the top of his head.

Knowing that the AI was still connected to his implants even when in holographic form, he quietly asked if he would consider _one_ of the names even if he didn't like it.

"Great," Simmons raked a hand through his hair. "Ok, um, how about Janus," he offered.

Genkins perked up at that, and said to put the both of them out of their misery, "That one isn't horrible in the very least."

"It's fitting too," Simmons responded, finally glad that they've managed to come to an agreement on names. "Just like how your name isn't based on any other God, Janus was one of the only Roman gods with no Greek equivalent."

"Nerd," is the only thing Grif can say in response.

"It's not nerdy if it helps you out," Simmons sassed. "Plus, Janus is considered the God of beginnings and transitions, so basically time itself."

"Oh perfect," the projection crossed his legs. "Did you hear that Grif? When we kill Chrovos, we can take his rightful place as ruler of time!"

"Did he just say that you were going to kill the Titan that we were warned against," Simmons says in as flat of a voice as he could manage without freaking out.

"Honestly Simmons, what were you expecting?" Grif rebuts.

"You know what- time and place, time and place," he mutters. "Ok fine- you have a name now- what about appearances? Practically everyone knows the Red and Blue colors, and I'm sure the others would catch on quick if you looked too much like Genkins."

"Let me handle that, peasant," Genkins said, finally coming down from on top of Grif's head. "I can still project holograms over armor and such- shapeshifting is one of my many talents."

"Good for you," Simmons rolls his eyes. "Then you're practically all set. Go out there and become a God. Do you even know how you're gonna do even _that?"_

"Yeah we're getting there," no they weren't, but Grif couldn't let Simmons know that was winging the entire thing.

"I was thinking we go into the past and introduce ourselves to an uncivilized group of people, what do you think?" Genkins looked at Grif.

"Put a pin in that idea and then throw it out because we are not doing that," Grif shakes his head. "No, the first thing we're gonna do is introduce ourselves to the others and try to convince them to help us in killing Chrovos, because there's no fucking way we're going into that blind."

"You actually plan on showing everyone else your, uh, Godsona?" Simmons asked.

"One, never call it that again or I'm gonna smite you first out of everyone and two, yes because I am not a fucking idiot, Simmons," Grif rolled his eyes. "Just because I now have an AI doesn't mean I am in the slightest bit competent. No, we're gonna need the other's help for that."

"Can we make it Janus with a 'G' instead," Genkins interrupts. "I think that'd be much more fitting- Ganus, I can just see it now."

Simmons looked at Grif, a tense expression on his face as if to say, 'Well it's your fucking AI.'

"Fine yes, will that make you happy," Grif wanted to sleep for a thousand fucking years.

How the hell did he get wrapped up in all the shit? Oh wait, that's right- because he's a fucking idiot, how could he forget.

"It does- it makes me very, very happy," Genkins practically purred. "You know, I think that's why I like you so much Grif because your name has a 'g' in it. It's a very sophisticated letter, you know."

Simmons once again put his head in his hands, but this time he lowered himself to the floor as he said, "This is it, this is how we're going to go down- you trying to become a god-like figure for an AI and me trying to help you do it."

"There, there, Simmons," Genkins consoled, patting Simmons back as he gestured with his other hand. "If it makes you feel better, for your actions, I'll allow you to be our main priest when we eventually have a cult after us."

Simmons only groaned louder and Grif decided to join him on the ground.

With another being living in his head, he could have no doubts or hesitations. As much as he loathed it, he was committed to this titan slaying, god becoming path. Joined by a malevolent AI that not too long ago was content with watching the universe burn, no qualms about it.

"Simmons, really now, you should get up, think about how long you've been in here with Grif, people might start to say things," Genkins chided.

This was his life now, never-ending dumbassery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is only the start to a long and absurd road of Grif dealing with the AI personification of an annoying younger sibling who won't shut the fuck up no matter what you do. And if anyone's worried about the whole becoming a God part of the story- no worries, it's not going to be successful in the _slightest_.
> 
> If you have any questions or just wanna talk, you can find me at my Tumblr's @agent-murica (main) and @amateurscribes (writing)!


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